India arrive in Adelaide to a green pitch and a silly Aussie tabloid headline

The Aussie media is known for targeting the opposition in a high-profile series. And keeping up with that tradition, a leading tabloid newspaper has tagged the Indian cricketers "The Scaredy Bats" as Virat Kohli's men touched down in Adelaide.

However, this has not gone down well even with the Australia journos.

A clipping of that shared by Aussie journalist, Richard Hinds has gone viral on social media wherein the report says, India are "scared of the bounce" in Brisbane, "scared of the unknown" in Perth and "scared of the dark" in Adelaide - a sly dig at BCCI's reluctance to agree to a day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval, which has hosted pink-ball matches the last three seasons.

Anyone else tired of the childish and predictable mocking of visiting teams by Australian media? It’s become a boorish tradition that reflects poorly on our country.#AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/3bFgFSgaWZ

Staying with Adelaide, the venue that has hosted three day-night Tests, may have an extra layer of grass for the opener between India and Australia, starting December 6.

"We do the same preparation for red-ball cricket and pink-ball cricket at Shield level. The best way to get an even contest is to leave some grass on there and get that balance between bat and ball. Right now, we really feel that this is where it's at for the pitch. We won't do anything differently. The preparation will be the same. The only difference is we get the covers off earlier and we start earlier," The Weekend Australia quoted curator Damien Hough.

Meanwhile, former India pacer Zaheer Khan backs Umesh Yadav to make the line-up ahead of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Zaheer, who tamed the Australian batsmen during the 2007-08 tour, has given his pick for the bowling attack.

"I think (Jasprit) Bumrah, Umesh and (Mohammed) Shami should play in the first Test. No doubt we have seen a lot of improvement in Ishant's bowling and he has experience of playing there as well. But I think if these three play, it would be good for India," India today quoted Zaheer as saying.

It may be recalled that the Indian bowlers went for 544 runs in the recently concluded Tour game against Cricket Australia.